9 New Hymns! . The next 9 hymns have been released for the new Latter-day Saint hymnbook and I don’t think most Latter-day Saints understand the heartbreaking, movie worthy stories behind some of these traditional Christian hymns. So here’s the story. . The first hymn on the list is Amazing Grace. Written by John Newton in 1779, it is an anthem to John Newton’s personal and dramatic conversion to Christianity. He was mostly unreligious growing up, but through a series of life events, he became i